A STUDY COMMISSIONED BY ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY indicates new natural gas pipelines are not needed because the region’s power grid will face no “reliability deficiency” through 2030. Even with more power plant retirements than expected, the study said the grid would face a power shortfall for only 26 hours over nine days during that […]
Electricity
Posted inEnvironment
House passes solar bill; Senate leader hopeful
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE voted 150-2 on Tuesday in favor of a solar power bill that is very different from what the Senate passed in June, yet the Senate’s energy expert said he was optimistic the two branches could approve legislation and send it to the governor before the Legislature recesses Wednesday night. Sen. Benjamin Downing […]
Posted inUncategorized
Solar advocates slam House net metering bill
THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE unveiled a solar power bill Monday night that would temporarily lift the cap on a key incentive but then rein in costs associated with the program and possibly allow utilities to collect monthly fees from solar power generators. Solar developers and the state’s two major utilities have been waging […]
Posted inUncategorized
Quebec premier pitches baseload hydro power
(A correction has been added to this story.) QUEBEC PREMIER PHILIPPE COUILLARD came to Boston on Friday to pitch hydro-electricity from his province as a source of baseload power for New England, a low-carbon-emission replacement for any number of existing nuclear and coal power plants scheduled to go offline in the next few years. Hydro-Quebec, […]
Posted inOpinion
Lift net metering cap, help low-income communities
What follows is a letter sent to state leaders on Wednesday by a large number of religious leaders, community groups, and academics. AS COMMUNITY LEADERS, religious and spiritual leaders, community development organizations, academics, and researchers, we urge you to take immediate action to lift the net metering caps and maintain access to the benefits of […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Q&A: Sorting out solar
It seems like solar power was going great guns under former governor Deval Patrick, but now everyone is fighting about it. What’s going on? Solar did do phenomenally well under Patrick; Massachusetts became one of the nation’s leaders in solar power development. But now the Baker administration is having concerns about the high cost of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
More natural gas, not LNG, is the answer
AS NEW ENGLAND PREPARES for another winter, there is a growing consensus among energy policy makers in New England that more natural gas is needed to mitigate the high cost of electricity. After a broad investigation into the cause of New England’s high electricity prices, the Massachusetts’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) recently concluded that […]
Posted inEnvironment
Pilgrim shifts Beacon Hill energy debate
THE LOOMING SHUTDOWN of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth is quickly transforming the debate about energy on Beacon Hill, moving it out of the policy-wonk arena and into the political realm. The most obvious evidence of that shift came on Wednesday when the Environmental League of Massachusetts announced it was forming a super PAC […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
It’s time for a clean energy two-fer
MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRICITY COSTS were well above the national average in 2014 for households and businesses, according to federal data. After paying $3 billion in excess electric costs in the winter of 2013-14 and another billion in 2014-15, it’s time for our region to make the tough decisions. That’s why it was good to see the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Mass. once again playing catchup on energy
RIGHT NOW, IT SEEMS LIKE Massachusetts remains on the slow boat to natural gas pipeline expansion, which is impacting prices for customers and reliability for power generators. The region needs an expedient solution to avoid an energy crisis which may only have been tempered by the recent drop in oil prices that made LNG more […]